FPL Gameweek 9 team news: Injury updates on Sterling, Salah, Aguero and Rashford

The second part of our Gameweek 9 team news summary rounds up the headline updates and quotes from Friday’s pre-match press conferences, including the latest on Mohamed Salah (£12.3m).

We’ve now heard from all 20 Premier League managers ahead of Saturday’s Fantasy Premier League deadline, with some questions over player fitness cleared up and plenty more left unanswered.

The head coaches of Aston Villa, Brighton and Hove Albion, Burnley, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion all held their official pre-Gameweek 9 pressers on Thursday and you can read the stand-out injury news in a separate round-up here.

Our YouTube and podcast team news summary is available towards the bottom of this piece, while our Team News tab will be refreshed over the coming hours and provide even more detail on what we offer here.

LIVERPOOL

Mohamed Salah will miss the visit of Leicester City this weekend but it’s still unknown whether the Egyptian will be back to face Brighton and Hove Albion in Gameweek 10.

Salah tested positive for coronavirus a week ago and is over halfway through the mandatory 10-day period of self-isolation.

Only when he returns a negative test can he think about a comeback to training, however, with Jurgen Klopp telling the media on Friday:

He is probably back [in Liverpool] today. When you have a negative test, the process really starts. He is in a good place, feels well, no symptoms, so that’s all fine.

The Reds are decimated by injury elsewhere, with Virgil van Dijk (knee), Joe Gomez (knee), Trent Alexander-Arnold (calf), Jordan Henderson (muscle) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee) all definite absentees for the clash with Leicester City.

There may be better news on Fabinho (muscle) and Thiago (knock), at least, with Klopp saying:

Hendo, not, Trent not – that’s clear. All the rest (Fabinho, Thiago, Rhys Williams) we will see. They are all closer but we will see if it is close enough for the weekend.

MANCHESTER CITY

Pep Guardiola revealed that Sergio Aguero (muscle) has trained this week, while Raheem Sterling (calf) trained with the team for the first time today following his withdrawal from the England squad.

Fernandinho (stomach illness) and Nathan Ake (hamstring) are sidelined, however.

Guardiola said:

Except for Nathan and Fernandinho, the rest have started to come back.

Fernandinho is not fit. He has a little bit of gastroenteritis, something in his stomach. Sergio trained this week. Raheem, today, was the first training with the team.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Marcus Rashford (shoulder) was among the names mentioned by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in his team news bulletin today, with the Manchester United boss saying:

Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard and Phil Jones are the only ones who didn’t join in parts of the training today. Bailly and Marcos Rojo joined the training today for the first time in a month at least, so they are not ready.

Marcus [Rashford] joined in the first time today. Hopefully there’s no reaction, I’m not sure.

Victor [Lindelof], we’ll have to check tomorrow because his back is not great.

There were more positive quotes on Rashford provided to the in-house media, with Solskjaer adding:

He’s worked in the gym and has got treatment. He joined in the session today and I hope he’ll hold his hand up and say he’s ready. That will be up to him. I think he feels okay.

On Mason Greenwood (illness), the United boss said:

Mason is fitter. He had eight or nine days away from us which is long time. He’s been training hard this week in the gym and on the grass. He’ll be back soon.

LEICESTER CITY

There are potential medium-term implications for James Justin with Brendan Rodgers confirming in today’s press conference that Timothy Castagne (hamstring) is back in contention for the Liverpool game on Sunday.

Ricardo Pereira (knee) is also back in training although, after eight months out, the Portugal international is still a little way off a first-team return and will first feature in a reserve game next week.

Wilfred Ndidi (adductor) and Caglar Soyuncu (adductor) are similarly training but remain a few weeks away.

EVERTON

Seamus Coleman (hamstring) and Jean-Phillipe Gbamin (Achilles) are Everton’s only confirmed absentees for the trip to Fulham, with Carlo Ancelotti providing some positive news on Richarlison and his returning South American contingent:

Gbamin is in the last part of his recovery, I think he will be here in 2-3 weeks to be ready to train and play. Coleman is not available for this game, the others are quite fit, good condition. [Delph, Allan and Richarlison] are all fit.

The players from South America came back yesterday. They were OK, they tested negative. They trained today; they are quite fit, a little bit tired from their travels, but we have time to recover for Sunday.

NEWCASTLE UNITED

Steve Bruce ruled Ryan Fraser (hamstring) out of the Chelsea game but says that Callum Wilson (hamstring) “has got a chance” of featuring.

Speaking on Friday, Bruce said:

Ryan won’t make it, unfortunately, but Callum has got a chance to. Obviously we’re going to make sure that if there’s any risk whatsoever, then he won’t play. But he has trained the last two days. It was very comfortable yesterday. We’ll see how he is today, but the boy wants to play.

We have to make sure he’s 100%, because the big problem for us all is the injuries – thankfully we’re getting a few back but it’s been a concern for all of us managers.

It might be a little bit early for Jonjo [Shelvey] but he’s trained two or three days. Matt Ritchie is another one who’s trained two or three days. That’s good news for us all, that they’re in and around the group again.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Jose Mourinho confirmed that Son Heung-min has tested negative for COVID-19 after returning from international duty with South Korea so is available this weekend.

The Spurs boss also revealed that Steven Bergwijn is fit but Harry Winks has returned from international duty with a “little problem” and Erik Lamela (unspecified) is still in the final stages of his recovery.

WEST HAM UNITED

David Moyes revealed that Michail Antonio (hamstring) is “much closer” to a comeback after a return to training although stopped short of declaring him fit to play:

Michail is back training and we’ve got a couple of days yet to see how he is. The truth is I can’t give you a complete answer [as to whether he’ll be available on Sunday], but he’s getting much closer that’s for sure.

Angelo Ogbonna (groin) is expected to be fit.

LEEDS UNITED

Marcelo Bielsa says that Kalvin Phillips (shoulder) and Rodrigo Moreno (self-isolation) are back in contention this weekend, with the former more likely to start than the latter.

Pablo Hernandez (muscle), Jamie Shackleton (quad) and Diego Llorente (groin) remain out, however.

ARSENAL

Mohamed Elneny and Sead Kolasinac will both miss the trip to Leeds on Sunday after testing positive for COVID-19 while away with their countries, while Thomas Partey is also sidelined with the thigh problem that forced him off in Gameweek 8.

Asked about the minutes that Bukayo Saka has racked up for England over the international break, Mikel Arteta said:

Obviously, he’s a 19-year-old kid and he’s played a lot of football in the last few months and we have to protect him. Let’s see how he comes back and try to get him fit and recovered and see how he is for Sunday.

SOUTHAMPTON

James Ward-Prowse (hamstring) and Ryan Bertrand (hamstring) have been back in training and Ralph Hasenhuttl said the pair “should” be fit to feature against Wolves on Monday.

Danny Ings (knee) is making good progress but remains out.

Hasenhuttl said:

Everyone else [bar Ings] is in training in the moment. I haven’t seen everybody coming back from the internationals (Djenepo, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Armstrong). We have all the guys back today and it’s an advantage that we play on Monday.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Nuno Espirito Santo was typically non-committal on the injury front, saying only that Wolves have “some issues” to assess.

Santo did at least acknowledge “the situation of Conor Coady“, with the centre-half having self-isolated following contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19.

The Wolves boss added that Saturday will be the first chance he has to gather all of his squad together.

SHEFFIELD UNITED

Chris Wilder said that Rhian Brewster (knock), Enda Stevens (knee) and John Egan (head) have “all got a chance” and will be given “the maximum time to recover” ahead of the visit of West Ham.

John Fleck is available while Lys Mousset (toe) has returned to training and could be an option.

Sander Berge is a “question mark” according to his manager, with the Blades awaiting instruction on whether the midfielder can take part this weekend due to quarantine rules in Norway.

FULHAM

Scott Parker revealed that his players came back from international duty unscathed and said of Mario Lemina (muscle):

He’s been training for the last week or ten days, so he’s a lot closer than what he was last time. Whether this game comes a bit quick, not sure.

More detailed information and predicted line-ups can be found in the Team News tab, which will be refreshed soon.

Keep an eye on our Twitter feed, too, for any late-breaking updates.

A video round-up with Andy and Neale can be found below, with the podcast version available via this link: